who makes graphics cards

[atopork]

A friend of mine told me he had read somewhere that there are only two factorys that make graphics cards and ship them out to other factorys eg XFX, ASUS, EVGA. He says that these other factorys then put there own stickers coolers and flash there own bios on them. Does anybody know if this is true???

 

[b1gapl]

Well there are two main graphic card companies. And they are Nvidia, and ATi (Owned by AMD). I'm sure there are other graphic card companies, but they're not well known, and they don't compete with either Nvidia or ATi.

 

[atopork]

What he was try to say was that a leadtek one is the same as a evga he is trying to that there are exacly the same card just flashed with diffrent bios and diffrent cooler on them.

But why the big price diffrents??

 

[b1gapl]

Oh yea, that's true. Every 8800GTS is the same, just a different company sticker on it. The prices vary because of competition. There are a lot manufacturers out there. The only main difference between all these cards, is the look and the warranty service of the manufacturer.

 

[atopork]

So realy when buying a graphics card you might aswel buy the cheapest brand around as it is the same card as the better brand.

 

[turtile]

Some of the boards are different as well as the cooling too. The main concern is the warranty.

Nvidia/ATI just design the chips and work with a major board manufacturer in order to come up with a reference design for the board.

 

[veedubfreak]

Every card isnt "exactly the same" persay, they are built on the same chipset and board specifications. The main difference as turtile said is going to be the warranty you get with them and the cooling. For example, most cards come with a 3 year warranty, evga gives you a lifetime warranty if you register the card, but only to the person who purchased it. Other cards can transfer the warranties. But for the most part, a gts from one company is going to perform roughly 99% identical to a gts from another company.

 

[CrazeD]

Also, some manufacturers overclock the cards and sell them for more money.

 

[gurusan]

The cards aren't all the same...but they follow the same reference design.

For example every 8800GTS has the same cooler (except the AC3S of course)....but EVGA and XFX may source their fans from 2 different companies.

 

[Nick]

dont clock speeds vary say from an XFX8800GTS to a EVGA8800GTS?